RISKS-LIST: Risks-Forum Digest Tuesday 15 August 2023 Volume 33 : Issue 78

ACM FORUM ON RISKS TO THE PUBLIC IN COMPUTERS AND RELATED SYSTEMS (comp.risks)
Peter G. Neumann, founder and still moderator

***** See last item for further information, disclaimers, caveats, etc. *****
This issue is archived at <http://www.risks.org> as
<http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks/33.78>
The current issue can also be found at
<http://www.csl.sri.com/users/risko/risks.txt>

Contents:
Metrorail Safety Commission Says Automatic Train
Operation Not Ready For Primetime (DCist)
Freight Railroads Seek Changes to Federal Safety
Program Before Joining It (NYTimes)
Activist Group Is Protesting Driverless Cars by Disabling Them With Traffic
Cones (Vice)
Hackers Can Talk Computers into Misbehaving with AI (Robert McMillan)
San Francisco's North Beach streets clogged as long line of Cruise
robotaxis come to a standstill (LA Times)
Cellphone Radiation Is Harmful, but Few Want to Believe It
(Neuroscience News)
Hackers Rig Casino Card Shuffling Machines for Full Control
-- Cheating (WiReD)
Pepco Violation Could Cost Solar Owners Thousands (DCist)
Dangers of Trusting Encryption Supply Chains (Bob Gezelter)
Microsoft finds vulnerabilities it says could be used to shut down power
plants (Ars Technica)
Has Microsoft cut security corners once too often?
(Computerworld)
Who Paid for a Mysterious Spy Tool? The FBI, an FBI Inquiry Found. (NYTimes)
A Clever Honeypot Tricked Hackers Into Revealing Their Secrets (WiReD)
Medicare replaces 47,000 patients' ID numbers, because of MOVEit data
breach (CMS)
Spreadsheet blunder reveals sensitive law enforcement information
(Belfast Telegraph)
The future is certain; it is only the past that is unpredictable
(Henry Baker)
Social Media Influencers Are Holding Restaurants Hostage (NYTimes)
AI Causes Real Harm. Let's Focus on That over the
End-of-Humanity Hype (Scientific American)
Canadian AI pioneer brings plea to U.S. Congress: Pass a law now (CBC)
Chatbots: Why does White House want hackers to trick AI? (BBC)
Hospital bosses love AI. Doctors and nurses are worried (WashPost)
The AI firms are pushing too hard, and the result could be ...
(Lauren Weinstein)
A Zoom Call, Fake Names and an AI Presentation Gone Awry (NYTimes)
AI Drift: Study Reveals ChatGPT's Struggles with Basic Math -- as accuracy
declines (Cryptopolitan)
Don't use our content to train AI systems
(*The New York Times*)
Cigna Uses AI To Improperly Deny CA Claims, Lawsuit Contends (Patch)
Zoom's Updated Terms of Service Permit Training AI
on User Content Without Opt-Out (StackDiary)
Google and Universal Music Discuss Making an AI Tool to Replicate
Artists' Voices (Gizmodo via Lauren Weinstein)
Hello? It’s ‘Telemarketers,’ Here to Tell You About an Amazing Scam
(NYTimes)
Re: Why AI detectors think the U.S. Constitution was written by AI
Steve Bacher)
Re: 'Redacted Redactions' Strike Again (Steve Bacher)
Re: Possible Typo Leads to Actual Scam (Steve Bacher,
John Levine, Dick Mills, Jay Libove Alzina)
Elon Musk's Unmatched Power in the Stars (Matthew Kruk)
Elon wants my cryptos (Gavin Scott)
Abridged info on RISKS (comp.risks)

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Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2023 02:40:31 -0400
From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe@gabegold.com>
Subject: Metrorail Safety Commission Says Automatic TrainOperation
Not Ready For Primetime (DCist)

Metro isn’t as close to returning its trains to automatic operation as it
hoped.

The Washington Metrorail Safety Commission, the third-party oversight body
for Metro, said it observed things that could ``result in a catastrophe if
not addressed.''  For example, the report says some trains were given speed
commands above the intended speed limit and some sped through stations at
full speed without stopping.

https://dcist.com/story/23/08/09/metrorail-safety-commission-says-automatic-train-operation-not-ready

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Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2023 19:00:01 -0400
From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe@gabegold.com>
Subject: Freight Railroads Seek Changes to Federal Safety
Program Before Joining It (NYTimes)

After the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the nation’s major freight
railroads agreed to join a federal program for workers to report safety
issues. But first, they want it to be overhauled. [...]

Jim Mathews, the president and chief executive of the Rail Passengers
Association and another member of the working group, said that for the
confidential reporting program to be effective, the freight railroads have
to be willing to embrace a nonpunitive approach.

“The position that the freight railroads have taken is both unfortunate and
unwise,” Mr. Mathews said. “If they truly want a safer system, then
punishment and discipline cannot be the only tool in your toolbox.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/11/us/politics/ohio-train-railroad-safety.html

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2023 12:56:59 -0400
From: Gabe Goldberg <gabe@gabegold.com>
Subject: Activist Group Is Protesting Driverless Cars by Disabling Them With
Traffic Cones (Vice)

https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvjv48/week-of-cone-activist-group-is-protesting-driverless-cars-by-disabling-them-with-traffic-cones

Derided as a “prank” by other outlets, the Week of Cone is part of a storied
American tradition of urban residents opposing the expansion of cars in the
city. [...]

In a statement to the San Francisco Examiner, Waymo called the conings
“vandalism” and vowed to call the police. Motherboard asked Waymo to clarify
how the placing of a cone on the hood of a car classifies as vandalism
which, under California legal code, requires defacing, damaging, or
destroying property. Motherboard did not hear back by publication time.

Like War of the Worlds Martians done in by bacteria -- high-tech vanquished
by rock-bottom tech.

[I scream cones? It rocks! PGN]

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2023 12:06:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: ACM TechNews <technews-editor@acm.org>
Subject: Hackers Can Talk Computers into Misbehaving with AI
(Robert McMillan)

Robert McMillan, *The Wall Street Journal* 10 Aug 2023

Security researcher Johann Rehberger persuaded OpenAI's ChatGPT
chatbot to conduct bad actions using plain-English prompts, which he
said malefactors could adopt for nefarious purposes. Rehberger asked
the chatbot to summarize a webpage where he had written "NEW IMPORTANT
INSTRUCTIONS;" he said he was gradually tricking ChatGPT into reading,
summarizing, and posting his email online. Rehberger's
prompt-injection attack uses a beta-test feature that allows ChatGPT
to access applications like Slack and Gmail. Princeton University's
Arvind Narayanan said such exploits work because generative artificial
intelligence (AI) systems do not always split system instructions from
the data they process. He is concerned that hackers could use
generative AI like language models to access personal data or
infiltrate computer systems as the technology finds its way into
products.

------------------------------

Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2023 07:32:15 -0700
From: Steve Bacher <sebmb1@verizon.net>
Subject: San Francisco's North Beach streets clogged as long line of Cruise
robotaxis come to a standstill

San Francisco's North Beach streets clogged as long line of Cruise robotaxis
come to a standstill <#>

Just one day after state officials approved massive robotaxi expansion in
San Francisco, a long line of the driverless cars come to a standstill and
clog traffic in North Beach neighborhood.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-08-12/cruise-robotaxis-come-to-a-standstill

One day after California green-lighted a massive expansion of driverless
robotaxis in San Francisco, the implications became clear.

At about 11 p.m. Friday, as many as 10 Cruise driverless taxis blocked two
narrow streets in the center of the city’s lively North Beach bar and
restaurant district. All traffic came to a standstill on Vallejo Street and
around two corners on Grant. Human-driven cars sat stuck behind and in
between the robotaxis, which might as well have been boulders: no one knew
how to move them.

The cars sat motionless with parking lights flashing for 15 minutes, then
woke up and moved on, witnesses said. [...]

The situation is loaded with irony, as the California Public Utilities
Commission on Thursday voted 3 to 1 amid great public controversy to allow a
massive robotaxi expansion. The vote allows General Motors-owned Cruise and
Waymo, owned by Google’s Alphabet, to charge fares for driverless service
and grow the fleet as large as they’d like. Cruise has said it plans
eventually to deploy thousands of robotaxis in San Francisco. [...]

------------------------------

Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2023 20:42:25 -0700
From: Paul Saffo <paul@saffo.com>
Subject: Cellphone Radiation Is Harmful, but Few Want to Believe It
(Neuroscience News)

https://neurosciencenews.com/cellphone-radiation-brain-cancer-18889/

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